x + 220 pages including references. At the heart of the controversy over the extraordinary events of 1975 which led to the dismissal of a Government elected by popular franchise, stand two fundamental questions. Did the Opposition-controlled Senate act within the intention of the Constitution-makers when it chose to refuse the elected Government the funds to carry out its tasks? Was the Governor-General right to ignore his responsible ministers and set aside the‘ advice of his senior Crown Law of?cers to dismiss a Government which had the support of the House of Representatives? To answer these questions The Makers and the Breakers has gone back to the origins of our Constitution to determine what the makers of that compact meant, and how the decisions of October and November 1975 were able to be taken. What were the views of Australia’s founders, men such as Alfred Deakin, Edmund Barton, Sir Henry Parkes, George Reid and Isaac Isaacs, about the powers of the Senate and the role of the Governor-General? In The Makers and the Breakers they speak on the issues which made the crisis of 1975.